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Mazda Dyson LMP1 champions skip Sebring; other notes from ALMS test

February 7, 2013

The No. 62 Ferrari F458 Italia shared by Olivier Beretta and Matteo Malucelli turned in a best time 2:01.645 (110.683 mph) during the afternoon session to lead the GT field at the Sebring test on Thursday. Photo by ALMS

The Mazda-powered Dyson Racing LMP1 championship car from last season was not at the American Le Mans Series test at Sebring, but is expected to race at the 12 Hours of Sebring, along with cars from Rebellion Racing, Muscle Milk and, of course, two Audis. Only the Muscle Milk car was at Thursday’s test.

Mazda’s director of motorsports in North America John Doonan said that the trio of Mazda 6 diesel race cars competing in the new GX class at the 24 Hours of Daytona, which fell out after two hours, all suffered the same problem: A hot spot on one of the pistons. It’s a very fixable issue, and Mazda will race the cars at the next Grand-Am race, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, next month.

Unfortunately, the Mazdas are the only GX cars on the COTA entry list. Three Porsche Caymans took the podium at Daytona, but with no funding from Porsche -- the company only supports the 911 in racing -- none of them may return, including the Napleton car that David Donahue helped drive to victory. “So far, nothing,” Donahue said Thursday at Sebring.

P2 MIA

There are only 15 cars testing at Sebring this week -- one LMP1 car, seven GT cars, three LMPC cars and four GTC cars. There are no LPM2 cars, but Atherton said that there will be for the race. How many? Six, ALMS head Scott Atherton speculates.

Quite a few cars, including the Chevrolet Corvette and BMW teams that are AWOL at this test, are expected to come for a private test at Sebring in a couple of weeks.

Tire monster

If there is one overriding issue in the combination of the Grand-Am and ALMS grids at the 2014 24 Hours of Daytona and beyond, it’s tires.

The philosophies of the two series are very different, and both have merit: Grand-Am, like parent NASCAR, likes one tire supplier, which solves a lot of problems, including paperwork. As every series attempts to balance the field for even competition, having everyone on the same tires makes that job a lot easier.

The ALMS, though, has always been about open competition. If a tire manufacturer beats only itself, where is the motivation to improve, and the pride of beating other manufacturers?

The ALMS LMPC class, though, has used a spec tire -- Michelin. And it appears that Michelin may be out, and Grand-Am partner Continental in for the Oreca-chassis, Chevrolet-engine spec class.

For 2014, it appears the Grand-Am GT class will likely still have Continentals, but the ALMS-based GT class will likely have open competition. The biggest issue is the combined P2 and Daytona Prototype class -- by giving Continental the LMPC class, it may ease the way to allowing for manufacturer competition in the P2-DP class.

New combined series to get name

On March 14, two days before the 12 Hours, expect a press conference in which the new name of the combined series will be announced, as well as the name of the four or five classes that will be racing at Daytona next year, the variable being whether or not the Mazda-centric GX class is dovetailed into the Grand-Am GT class (it likely will be).

Those classes are, of course, P2-DP, ALMS’s GT class, Grand-Am’s GT class combined with the ALMS Porsche-spec GTC class, and ALMS’ LMPC class. The LMP1 cars are left out, but could be reconfigured to run in P2. As it is, Atherton said, 94 percent of the cars that have been competing in ALMS and Grand-Am will be able to compete in the new combined series with minimal changes.